Obligatory Steampunk

For some reason I feel a need to make an obligatory steampunk post. I think I personally fall more in the category of Victorian inspired, rather than some of the other subcultures that have formed. While I find it fascinating that people adopt the culture fully within their lives, I'm just interested in the clothing. Not even all the clothing, mostly just the formal wear. Fluffy blouses, fitted waists, long skirts, nice lace, and maybe even a slight bustle. The kinds of clothing that you just don't see much of these days. (As an aside, I was in a shop recently, and everything looked like an oversized t-shirt, or long tank t-shirt, so I started looking for something to wear under my corset, because I just don't get the look-like-a-bag fashion that seems to be the current trend.)

In my search for more about steampunk, I found out there's a steampunk magazine. Now, if only some one could point me to something like 'Victorian inspired fashion' or even 'Historically inspired fashion', I might actually get a magazine subscription. The sad thing is that such a thing probably exists, and I just haven't been able to find it. Sigh ...

So in the clothing arena, The Gentleman's Emporium has a nice selection of items I think of as the base elements: blouses, skirts, vests and coats, and some appropriate accessories such as lace gloves and parasols. Found by way of a Burning Man group blog. I really want a lace parasol for going out and walking about. I'm the kind of person that burns within a couple minutes.

Toxiferous Designs had a post pointing to C. Cordova Fashion, and I have to agree that there are some nice, vaguely victorian-ish (definitely steampunk-ish) clothing items. For example, a paisley duster. Unfortunately, the O'Halloran company seems to have closed in 2006.

I have more links to images, but I think I'll save the rest for later posts.